This blog started as a year long project to post a photo taken in the Aberdeenshire village of Johnshaven every day for a year.
Having completed all 366 postings, I'm going to keep adding the occasional photo. All comments are very welcome. If you see anything on here that is factually inaccurate, please feel free to put me right!

Saturday, 26 October 2013

Morris dancers are a rare sight in Scotland, but once a year we are treated to a visit from a group comprising dancers from several different groups around England on their annual 'Scotchfest'. They stay in Brechin for a few nights and travel from there to perform in various communities around the North East. This morning they performed at the harbour before heading up to Stonehaven.

Fascinating fact - the earliest confirmed performance of morris dancing in England was 19th May 1448.

Thursday, 24 October 2013

In August this year, a new name was added to the War Memorial to remember a soldier who died during the First World War. Private 3379 James Ritchie Blues, 4th Battalion Black Watch, aged 26 years, was killed at Flanders on 22nd May 1915.

There was already a Ritchie Blues listed on the memorial, which is presumably how James' omission had been overlooked for so long. After some investigations to ensure that they were indeed two different men, the Community Council arranged for James to be added 98 years after he was killed in action.

The memorial was washed and Private Blues' name was added in raised letters

which were then coloured black.

The omission was discovered when local man, Chris Greene, did some research into the lives of the people whose names appear on the memorial. Interestingly, he can find nothing about one of the men - Edwin S Noble. If anyone reading this knows anything about him, please do get in touch.

Thursday, 10 October 2013

It's always a bit sad to see any building pulled down but, in the case of The Cedars, something very special is going to take its place.

This is how it looked at 10:45 this morning.

The owners of The Cedars had originally planned to improve and extend the house, but the costs were prohibitive and the result still wouldn't have been ideal for their requirements. The building lies just outside the conservation area, so the decision was made to demolish and start from scratch with a super efficient, modern Grand Design.

Sunday, 26 May 2013

Today the Yes campaign came to the village. Whatever my/ your opinion of the forthcoming referendum on Scottish independence, as a record of life in Johnshaven, I think this is worthy of inclusion in the blog.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

These photos show the damage that was done to the area around The Narrows in the heavy rain before Christmas 2012. It's hard to see because of the shadow, but an awful lot of hillside was swept away and settled very close to the back of the house.

The photo below shows where earth slid down the slope from the old railway line to the field between the village and The Narrows.